I hesitated to even pass this one along, but I suppose that reminders that
things can go wrong are legitimate.
In virtually all the cases, if not all, where students were burned, the
teacher had a JUG of the flammable liquid on the desk or table. Had s/he
simply kept quantities in the classroom or lab small, or better yet tiny,
any fire would have been small or tiny.
I read somewhere that one gallon of gasoline has an amount of chemical
energy equivalent to I think it was three sticks of dynamite. That is a
sobering fact to be sure, but the fact that we drive around with 1025
gallons of the stuff so routinely without incident testifies that it can be
handled and used safely. It absolutely demands respect. With any flammable
or combustible liquids, keep the quantities small and control the vapors
[and yes possible sources of ignition].
The 160 is probably from Frankie Wood-Black¹s article summarizing ten or
twenty years of reports. [I don¹t have the reference handy.]
From today¹s ACS Div CHAS list:
---------------------------------------------
MORE THAN 160 STUDENTS, TEACHERS NATIONWIDE HURT IN SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS GONE
WRONG
https://wlos.com/news/spotlight-on-america/more-than-160-students-teachers-n
ationwide-hurt-in-science-experiments-gone-wrong
Tags: us_MD, laboratory, discovery, environmental, explosives, flammables,
methanol
WASHINGTON (SBG) As many students return to in-person learning, experts
are warning about a danger they could face in the classroom: not COVID-19,
but a phenomenon known as flame jetting. It's already injured dozens of
students and teachers across the nation in classroom science experiments
gone terribly wrong.
Spotlight on America got a firsthand look at the phenomenon known as flame
jetting from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives,
going behind the scenes at the agency's Fire Research Laboratory in
Maryland. As trained and equipped representatives from the ATF demonstrated,
the phenomenon can turn a flammable liquid inside a container into a flame
thrower, creating a wall of fire that shoots forward with an intense force,
torching anything in its path.
According to Jonathan Butta with the ATF, it can happen when alcohols,
especially methanol, are used in demonstrations involving an open flame.
While the idea is to liven up classroom experiments and give a real-life
application to a chemical concept, the results can be tragic. Butta
explained, "It essentially turns a typical flammable liquid container into a
flamethrower."
Steve Stepenuck, KSC ret.
